My Sister, My Salvation
by Midnyght Saber
Summary: Up late during the night, Jazz is shocked to hear her brother crying, and she finds that he's losing sight of what he's become. Turning to her for guidance, Jazz offers Danny a small gift, hoping that it will help him find his way again.


**Disclaimer:**_ Danny Phantom_ and all related characters and information are the property of Butch Hartman and Viacom International, Inc. "Show Me The Way" is the property of Styx and A&M Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Records.

* * *

Returning from a late-night trip to the kitchen for a glass of water, Jazmine smiled to herself as she heard a faint thud come from her younger brothers' room. Back from another night of ghost hunting, he'd forgotten to go intangible, tiredly running headfirst into the wall outside of his room.

She knew his schedule all too well by now. She waited a few minutes, letting him fall asleep, knowing that he still had a full day of school and homework and ghosts and bullies ahead of him, and she couldn't help but be proud of how he held his own despite all that was stacked against him, though she knew it was becoming more than he could handle on his own.

She leaned against his door softly, remaining quiet to as not to disturb his sleep, and her eyes went wide in shock. Instead of his light breathing, or as it had been on a few nights, muffled snoring, she heard him crying softly.

Biting her lip, she quieted the little voice in the back of her mind that told her to leave him be, and she knocked on his door. "Danny," she whispered, "can I come in?"

"Yeah," came his soft reply.

Opening the door and slipping in quietly, Jazz shut the door silently behind her and walked over to her brothers' bed, sitting down next to him. "Danny, are you okay? I thought I heard you crying."

Sniffling, Danny turned glassy blue eyes to his sister. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

Jazz shook her head.

"I'm okay enough for now, I guess."

**Every night, I say a prayer**

**In the hopes that there's a Heaven**

Jazz looked at her brother. "If you don't want to talk about it, I'll…"

"No. Stay. Please. I need you," he managed between stifled sobs. "I need someone on my side."

"What's wrong?"

**But every day, I'm more confused**

**As the saints turn into sinners**

"Why is everyone so afraid of me? All I…want to do…is protect…my town…and my family. Why…can't they see…that I'm trying to help?" Danny's sobs broke up his speech, and Jazz saw him bite his lip softly to fight back his tears. "I was out…rounding up ghosts…and I saw…the news. The mayor…wants me…captured…destroyed…like a stray dog. The few people I…saw tonight…ran away screaming." Danny reached over to his nightstand and grabbed a tissue, blowing his nose.

**All the heroes and legends**

**I knew as a child**

**Have fallen to idols of clay**

"You know Mom and Dad are feeding the anti-ghost propaganda to the town. They're teaching people to fear you…and your kind."

Danny smirked. "My kind, huh?"

"You know I didn't mean it like that."

"I know. It's just…I saved a little girl from a ghost today. Her mother…she even saw me do so, but when I tried to pick up her daughter to get her out of the area…she grabbed her and ran from me, screaming." Danny wiped his eyes on his arm. "I'm really starting to think…that this hero business just isn't worth it anymore."

**And I feel this empty place inside**

**So afraid that I've lost my faith**

Jazz laid a hand on her brother's shoulder. "Don't say that. What you've done for the town…They'll see it one day. You just have to stay strong."

"That's not so easy. You have no idea what it feels like to have your own mother point a gun in your face day after day and tell you that you're a worthless piece of ectoplasmic scum, to come home sore from Dash's beatings, only to take more damage in ghost fights later on that same day." Danny raised his shirt to reveal a pair of bruises under his right rib. "One's from Dash just before lunch, the other from Skulker about an hour ago." Dropping the hem, he pulled his left sleeve up to show a half-healed burn mark. "Mom did that this afternoon."

Sitting up, he hung his head. "I'm sick of it all."

**Show me the way**

**Show me the way**

**Take me tonight to the river**

**And wash my illusions away**

**Please show me the way**

Jazz took her brother into her arms and hugged him tightly. "Listen, I know that you hate it when I try to give you psychological advice, but just this once, please listen to me. Go ahead and cry. When you have a shoulder to cry one, especially if it's someone you're close to, it can help you feel a lot better than just crying alone."

Danny shook his head, wiping the last of the salt trails from his cheeks. "I'm sick of crying. It won't change who I am…or what I am, for that matter. My crying won't make the town accept me. It won't tell them that I'm real, that I'm hurting inside. It doesn't change what I have to do every day of my life," Danny said, struggling free of his sister's grip.

**As I slowly drift to sleep**

**For a moment, dreams are sacred**

"When I first got my powers, I thought that I could use them for fun and to get back at Dash. The more I had to fight, the more I was forced to protect those that almost got hurt because of the attacks, I realized that I was the only one that could protect Amity Park. Threats have presented themselves that involved those that I'm closest to – Sam, Tucker, even you, Jazz. I do so much, but it gets me nowhere."

**I close my eyes and know there's peace**

**In a world so filled with hatred**

"Now, I'm a wanted ghost with no one to turn to aside from you, Sam and Tuck." Danny finally managed to break free of his sister's grip and lay back down.

"You need to find a way to show the town you mean well."

"And how, exactly, do you expect me to do that? I can't even show my face in public without an ecto-gun or ten suddenly locked on to me."

**Then I wake up each morning**

**And turn on the news**

**To find we've so far to go**

Jazz sighed. "I…I don't know. I need some time, but I'm sure that we can come up with something." She rubbed Danny's arm. "Anything else that you need to get off of your chest, little brother?"

He nodded. "Being half-ghost sucks," he muttered into his pillow.

"Why now?"

"It's hard to let myself get close to people," Danny murmured as he curled his arms close to his body, pulling his sheets up towards his face. "I don't know how some people would respond to me, knowing that I'm Danny Phantom."

Jazz smirked. "Like Paulina?"

Danny snorted into his pillow, trying to hide his laughter. "Not the girl I had in mind, Jazz." A picture of the female he'd meant popped into his head, and he smiled faintly. "I'm afraid to say anything to her about how I feel, especially because of my ghost half. I'm scared she won't respond to me the way I'd hope."

**And I keep on hoping, oh, for a sign**

**So afraid I just won't know**

Danny sighed tiredly. "I can't even attempt to make friends anymore. Not only does the work Mom and Dad do mark me as a weirdo and a freak in everyday life, but what would I say to that person if they saw my transformation?"

"Lemme guess – you have an issue with keeping secrets from people?"

Danny looked at her, his eyebrows furled in thought. "Yes and no," he finally answered. "I keep my ghost half hidden from those that hunt me for my own safety. When it comes to making friends, thought…you don't make friends by lying and side-stepping the truth. I learned that lesson at Dash's party a while back. If they find out that they can't trust you, they can't truly call you a friend, now can they?" He stretched and yawned, a hand drifting to his wounded abdomen, rubbing the bruised flesh gently. "Besides, with my horrid luck, my new 'friend' would find out my secret and immediately turn me in for the reward money. If nothing else, the cash would help them get close to the 'in' crowd."

**Show me the way**

**Show me the way**

**Bring me tonight to the mountain**

**And take my confusion away**

**And show me the way**

"Well, listen, Danny, I know it's late and you're tired, but you should jump in the shower real quick. Give yourself a little time to unwind. You've had a long day." Leaning over, she kissed Danny's forehead, pushing his bangs back from his crystalline blue eyes. "When you're done, come to my room. There's something that I need to give you."

Danny sat up as his sister was leaving, nodding. _A shower couldn't hurt_, he thought, fingers running over the burn on his arm. _At least, not _too_ badly._

After grabbing a change of clothes, Danny headed into the bathroom and got in the shower. The warm steam and the stream of hot water pouring over his scarred body soothed the scrapes that had yet to heal, and he relaxed as he felt the tension slowly seep from him, carried away from him and down the drain.

Reaching for his soap, he accidentally grabbed Jazmine's. Looking at it, he shrugged. _Aromatheraputic seems like a good idea. Jazz did say that I needed to unwind._

A short while later, Danny stepped out of the shower, smelling slightly of lavender and feeling worlds better than he had when he'd arrived home. Wiping the fog from the mirror, he looked into his tired azure eyes, sighing. Toweling dry, he put on the black pajamas Sam had recently bought him for his birthday, running his comb quickly through his tangled onyx hair.

He looked up again, tired eyes staring back at him from the reflective glass, and he saw, in his reflected azure orbs, the ache and agony of his responsibility, his life…but he saw strength there as well, lying just beneath the surface. He saw what Sam and Jazz were always seeing in him – the hero that he was still struggling to become. For a moment, he let his eyes go green, watching the ectoplasmic energy that gave them their luminescence swirl in his irises. _I know what I want to do. I know what I _have _to do. But…why is it always so hard to show people who I really am? I'm trying to be their hero, but I can never show them the way I want to._ Danny blinked, his eyes quickly returning to their normal color. _I want to be my own hero._ He took a final look at himself, setting the comb aside, and headed for Jasmine's room.

**And if I see a light**

**Should I believe?**

**Tell me, how will I know?**

Danny knocked, and upon hearing Jazz's reply, walked into her room, flopping down on the bean bag chair in the corner. "You had something you wanted to give me?"

Jazz picked up a faux-leather-bound book with a lock on the side. "I just wanted to give you one of these. It might help you see how much you really are doing if you just start writing down what's going on in your life each day."

"You want me to keep a diary?" he asked incredulously.

"No. Well, not technically. More like…I want you to have a copy of yourself. Write your feelings, the events of the day, anything that you need to vent about. That way, after a few days have passed, you can come back to the entry and see how things are going. You can see if there has been a turn for the better or the worse. You'd be surprised by how much you fail to notice changing right under your nose just because seeing it and remembering it makes it seem like time is dragging around the negative situations and flying past the good days."

"And being able to read it is supposed to do what?"

"It should help to bring it all into perspective. It depends on the situation each and every time, as well as the person involved, but it's worth a shot."

Danny's eyes drifted over the plain cover. "Are you going to read this?"

"Only when you want me to, and only what parts you want me to read. Otherwise, it'd be like I don't even know you have it."

Danny pushed himself up from the chair and walked over to his sister, silently embracing her in a tight hug.

Jazz responded in kind, releasing him as he loosened his grip on her.

He looked at her, holding up the book. "Here's to hoping this actually helps."

Jazz smiled as she handed him the key to the book's lock. "Here's to," she answered.

Heading to his room, Danny opened the lock on the book as he went, and as he sat down at his desk, he flipped on the table lamp. Grabbing a pen from the backpack he'd cast to the floor after getting home from school, he wrote a short entry on the inside front cover of the book.

**Show me the way**

**Show me the way**

**Take me tonight to the river**

**And wash my illusions away**

**Show me the way**

**Show me the way**

**Give me the strength and the courage**

**To believe that I'll get there someday**

**And please show me the way**

In the hopes of shining light onto my Phantom life and finding the hero that I want to be.

And in thanks to and for the sister that has helped me find my way through this maze that I'm caught in…yet again.

Danny closed the lock on the book, placing the book into the top drawer of his desk and hiding the key under the base of the lamp. He took a quick look out of his bedroom window before he clambered into bed, finally able to drift off into a deep, peaceful slumber.

**Every night, I say a prayer**

**In the hopes that there's a Heaven…**


End file.
